March 6, 1996
(Education and Training)

Province's schools prepare to release individual school reports
School Report 95-96 brings new level of accountability to Newfoundland's schools

A breakthrough in the province's school system will take place this week. Thirty schools from across the province, in cooperation with the Department of Education and Training, will each release a report on their performance and school-wide initiatives.

The project, School Report 95-96, consists of the most detailed reports ever released on our province's schools, combining statistical data with "personal" information on each participating school. While the program will eventually see detailed reports generated by each and every school in the province, this initial series of reports will come from 30 schools, spread over six school boards. The documents will include each school's performance measurements, including graduation rates and results of such testing programs as the Canadian Tests of Basic Skills, high school public exams, and curriculum-specific criterion-referenced tests. However, they will also include details on each school's staff, courses, and improvement plans, creating the most comprehensive reports ever released on Newfoundland's schools. The reports will also report on the attitudes of students towards the quality of their school lives.

Chris Decker, Minister of Education and Training, points out: "What makes this project so significant is that, for the first time, each participating school will have its own report. Parents, school councils, and teachers will be able to compare their school's results with those of the district or province. They can see what programs and school-wide initiatives are in place for each school, and can determine what areas of performance should be targeted for improvement. Also, since the achievement data has actually been collected for years, readers will even be able to see how groups of students are doing compared to those from previous years."

A great deal of the School Report 95-96 series was made possible by a computerized process, developed by members of the department's own Indicators team, which allowed performance data for each school to be automatically generated from the province-wide information gathered each year. This was then sent to each school to be reviewed and combined with their staff information and other internal data.

This year's reports come from schools in the Roman Catholic School Board of St. John's, the Avalon Consolidated School Board, the Western Avalon Roman Catholic School Board, the Burin Peninsula Roman Catholic School Board, the Exploits Valley Integrated School Board, and the Deer Lake-St. Barbe South Integrated School Board. The schools involved include 15 elementary, two junior high, two senior high, three central high, and eight all-grade schools. The production of these reports was completed with support from the Canada/Newfoundland COOPERATION Agreement on Human Resource Development.

"While this year's reports are a major development, they still give only a glimpse of what the project will eventually become," as Mr. Decker explains, "Doing this for the first year � establishing the format and procedure for 30 schools across the province � was a huge undertaking. However, it was also a valuable learning experience in itself, as we prepare to include more schools next year, and even more the following year. We're looking forward to a day very soon when every teacher, every student, every parent, will be able to see exactly how their school is doing. This is accountability at its finest, and it will allow us to continue building toward a world-class education system."

Next year the department expects all school districts and about half the province's schools to be involved in this school reporting project.

Districts and schools participating in the pilot project:

AVALON CONSOLIDATED INTEGRATED
St. Andrew's Elem.                 MacDonald Drive Elem.
Park Avenue Elem.                  Mount Pearl J.H.
I. J. Sampson J.H.                 Bishops College

BURIN PENINSULA R.C.
St. Joseph's All-Grade             Sacred Heart Elem. 
Marystown Central High             Marian Elem.

DEER LAKE/ST.BARBE INTEGRATED 
Elwood Elem.                       Rocky Harbour Elem.
Howley Elem.                       Jakeman All-Grade
Sop's Arm Central High

EXPLOIT'S VALLEY INTEGRATED
Buchans Public School              Point Leamington Academy
Windsor Academy                    Helen Tulk Elem.

ST. JOHN'S R.C.
St. John Bosco                     St. Thomas of Villanova
St. Kevin's Elem.                  Mary Queen of the World
Holy Spirit High                   St. Pius X Elem.

WESTERN AVALON R.C.
St. Anne's Academy                 Our Saviour King Academy
St. Edward's Elem.                 St. Francis Central High
Dunne Memorial Academy

     For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Gerald Galway Carl Cooper Indicators Project Manager Director of Public Relations Education and Training Education and Training Confederation Building Confederation Building St. John's, Newfoundland St. John's, Newfoundland (709) 729-4043 (709) 729-0048 e-mail ggalway@edu.gov.nf.ca e-mail ccooper@edu.gov.nf.ca 

1996 03 06                                 9:25 a.m.